Alex Chesterman said: ‘I am delighted to be able to fully commit to Zoopla for the long-term.’
Photograph: Zoopla/PA

Zoopla founder Alex Chesterman on Wednesday lined up an £11m share sale windfall together with a long-term bonus deal worth up to £20m over four years after committing his future to the property website group.

Chesterman’s new pay arrangements were disclosed as the group’s latest trading update showed it bouncing back from a sharp loss of customers to rivals. Shares in the FTSE 250 listed company rose 5%.

This latest trading update revealed that Chesterman had also been granted authority by chairman Mike Evans to sell 4.25m shares over coming months, worth about £11m at the current price “to settle personal tax and other liabilities”.

He will also be entitled to a new performance-based share plan “in order to appropriately incentivise and reward his continued substantial contribution to the performance of the group”.

The maximum number of shares that can be earned under the plan over a four-year period is 7.5m, around £20m at today’s share price.

His new pay deal replaces a previous long-term incentive plan worth up to about £450,000 a year.

Evans said: “We are delighted that Alex has committed to the business for the foreseeable future. His entrepreneurial and creative approach has been the driving force behind the growth of the business over the last few years and will be instrumental in delivering enhanced shareholder value over the long term.”

Zoopla came under pressure earlier this year after the launch of rival OnTheMarket.com – backed by estate agents – in January, in a bid to challenge Zoopla and Rightmove. OnTheMarket allows its own members to belong to one of the other two search sites – but not both.

The total including overseas and other members was 16,131 at the end of the period covered by the latest trading update from 1 April to 31 July. Zoopla said it remained one of the UK’s most visited websites with 45.6m average monthly visits.

Chesterman said: “We are very pleased that over the past few months of trading we have returned to growth in our number of UK agency members. We have come a long way since our launch just seven years ago, but there still remains much more to do that I am incredibly excited about.

“I am delighted to be able to fully commit to Zoopla for the long term.”

The chief executive was paid £499,000 for the year to the end of last September, including a £302,000 salary plus bonus, benefits and pension contribution. His new deal will replace a previous long-term incentive plan which entitled him to shares worth up to 150% of his salary.